Effect of Fused Filament Fabrication Parameters on Selected Indicators for Assessing Technological Quality of Shaped Models

Despite many studies, implementation of the additive manufacturing process in industrial and research practice is limited due to the numerous distortions affecting the obtained dependencies to a degree that is difficult to predict. No uniform methodology has been developed for the study of the impact of changes in the FFF parameters on the technological quality indicators. This paper presents a description of the original procedure for assessing technological quality using a reference component. The aim of the research was to analyze the impact of changes in the FFF additive manufacturing parameters on selected indicators of technological quality assessment of products. To compare the technological quality of the various models produced, measurements of surface roughness as well as dimensional and shape accuracy were carried out using stylus profilometry and coordinate measurement. The conducted tests showed that samples with a layer height of 0.12 mm have the most advantageous surface roughness parameters compared to the other layer heights of 0.16 mm and 0.20 mm tested. All the samples obtained were characterized by smaller dimensions than nominal, indicating the material shrinkage occurring during the FFF process. The study showed a negligible effect of material fill rate on surface roughness parameters as well as on the dimensions and shape accuracy. The obtained measurement results allow determining the most advantageous parameters of the FFF process depending on the adopted quality requirements.